Mood: Spring Botany
Anyone that knows me knows that I love plants. This calendar year alone, I have been gifted 5 plants. It's amazing! I love learning how to take care of each different one.
And then I started gardening. Which created this excitement of learning how to foster plants not just for my eyes but that I could tangibly use for eating.
One further step that I am inspired by is the gardening world of foraging and botany. There are so many edible and useful plants and parts of the earth that can be used in so many ways. We used fresh cut branches from the trees that surrounded our wedding pasture for the table center pieces, I like having dried herbs from my garden on hand in the spice drawer, but there are so many other ideas that I am slowing coming to dream about.
And while these hobbies and arts inspire me, the way that stems, leaves, florals, and spring colors come to use in style, decor, drinks, and foods is what I find myself drawn to these spring months.
"Florals for spring, how original." I KNOW. I KNOW.
A couple of botanical things in my mind:
Homemade gin with foraged junipers and herbs
Foraging pine trees for winter decor and spring blossoms for the kitchen table
Growing lavender and thistle for warm tea that love on your sinuses and throat
FINALLY finding some mushrooms this spring to bring home and cook on Saturday morning
Infused wild mint drinks this summer
OR collected spices for mulled cider in the late fall
I just added some of my aloe gel from my plant to my homemade dish soap!
Fresh snipped herbs for kombucha flavoring
Finding plants to take oil from for cleaning or skin care
Crafting cocktail syrups from berry and herb leaves
Working together medicinal practices from the plants of the ground (even as small as plantain that helps with a sting)
Crafting a seasonal garland made with the dried findings outside
Pressed flowers taped up or framed as a collection
A few sites that spark my interest:
THE OUTDOORS AND THE FOREST, DUH
Fox Meets Bear - a local Midwesterner who lives a beautiful life in the woods and just published this book that I would love to get my hands on!
Happy Spring, friends!
-Emily
